{"id":688213,"date":"2026-07-12T21:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/688213\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T21:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T21:12:19","slug":"who-is-in-the-dark-meet-the-cast-for-itvs-brand-new-crime-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/688213\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is in The Dark? Meet the cast for ITV’s brand-new crime drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

New crime drama The Dark <\/a>looks set to grip viewers when it debuts at 9pm tonight (12 July) on ITV1. The six-part series follows the police investigation after the body of a young man is found in a strange fashion in the Scottish wilderness.<\/p>\n

Laura Donnelly stars as detective Monica Kennedy who fears that the murder is just the beginning of something much larger and more terrifying that will strike at the heart of the rural community.<\/p>\n

Monica will have to use all her skills to find the killer, but when her own history comes in to play, she begins to lose faith in her judgement, putting herself and her family in a dangerous situation.<\/p>\n

\"laura<\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services UK 2026 \u2013 including Disney Plus, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV<\/a>
<\/p>\n

While Donnelly leads the cast, the series is full of names who will be very familiar to British TV fans. Below, Digital Spy guides you through The Dark’s cast of characters and the actors who play them. <\/p>\n

Laura Donnelly as Monica Kennedy\"laura<\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Who is Monica Kennedy?<\/p>\n

Monica is a detective, balancing her demanding career with raising her daughter Lucy. Due to being bullied as a child, Monica is very guarded which causes friction with her partner DC Conor Crawford.
<\/p>\n

What else has Laura Donnelly been in?<\/p>\n

Donnelly is best known as a stage actress and is a Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award nominee. On TV she is best known as Janet “Jenny” Fraser Murray in seasons 1-3 of Outlander.<\/p>\n

Mark Rowley as DC Conor Crawford \"mark<\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

DC Conor Crawford is described as “a sniffer dog in human form”. His macho exterior hides his high level of emotional intelligence. <\/p>\n

A former PC, Crawford has never been a detective on a murder case before. He was raised by a single mother in a strict religious community, a far cry from the lifestyle he lives today.<\/p>\n

What else has Mark Rowley been in?<\/p>\n

The Scottish actor got his start on soap River City before moving on to children’s series Young Dracula. <\/p>\n

Rowley is best known for starring in The Last Kingdom, as well as SAS: Rogue Heroes and Trigger Point. <\/p>\n

Tunji Kasim as Michael Bach \"tunji<\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Michael is a social worker, still struggling with the death of his brother in his teenage years. He has become disillusioned with his job as well as the institutions which are meant to help people, including the police. <\/p>\n

He first met Monica five years ago when he asked her for help in the disappearance of a young man he was providing social care for. <\/p>\n

What else has Tunji Kasim been in?<\/p>\n

Kasim is an accomplished stage actor having starred in many adaptations of Shakespeare’s work, including playing Caesar in the Royal National Theatre’s 2018 production of Antony and Cleopatra.<\/p>\n

On TV he is best known for starring in The CW’s Nancy Drew series, as well as appearing in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story on Netflix.<\/p>\n

Helen Baxendale as Bethany Morgan \"helen<\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Bethany Morgan is the mother of two young men Nichol and Jason Morgan. A deeply religious woman, she lives an austere life in a run-down farmhouse with her husband and step-father to her sons, Barclay. <\/p>\n

What else has Helen Baxendale been in?<\/p>\n

Baxendale is perhaps best known for playing Emily in Friends, Ross’ wife whose marriage gets off to the worst possible start when he says: “I take thee Rachel,” at the altar.<\/p>\n

The actress is also known for playing Rachel in Cold Feet as well as starring in BBC comedy Cuckoo. <\/p>\n

The Dark premieres tonight (12 July) at 9pm on ITV1. All six episodes are already available to watch on ITVX. <\/p>\n



Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating the global phenomenon of BTS, is here! Buy this ultimate fan guide in newsagents or online<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Reporter, Digital Spy \u00a0<\/p>\n

Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.<\/p>\n

After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.<\/p>\n

Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.<\/p>\n

You can read more of her work on her Substack<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New crime drama The Dark looks set to grip viewers when it debuts at 9pm tonight (12 July)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[147950,379,229372,381,96,190731,1156,229371,223205,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-688213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-87646686-8aa2-4692-bd65-ee58bdab967e","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-who-is-in-the-dark-meet-the-cast-for-itvs-new-crime-drama","tag-sponsored-false","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}